What the dust will hide
by Midori Ryuu
Summary: Who owned the XGP before Gene? Well, we know the Kei Pirates did, but who else?
1. Cleaning

**What the dust will hide  
**Chapter One  
Cleaning  
*******  


Disclaimer: I only own Aya Rei (Not Ayanami Rei!), so don't sue.  


*******  


Jim sighed as he sorted through the junk in the cargo hold. _Why do I always get stuck doing this?_ he wondered. He paused for a moment, as his hand brushed up against something he had never noticed there before.  
"Nani? A door handle?" he thought out loud, a puzzled look on his face.   
He grabbed his feather duster and cleaned it off to the point where his hands wouldn't turn gray if he opened it. When he got a better look at it, he saw it was a small compartment that was actually a part of the Outlaw Star. _No lock...  
_He turned the handle of it. Reluctantly, it opened, in defiance of what appeared to be the wear of many years. The young genius coughed as dust flew out, into his face and all over the cargo hold.  
"Damn! I just cleaned!"  
He blinked, seeing all that was in there. _A journal and a self-contained video player?  
_

*******_  
_

Gene yawned as he turned a page in the weapon catalog. It had been quite a boring day, so far. No jobs, no attacks from pirates, not even a call from Fred. He yawned again.  
"GENE! Guess what I found!" a dust-covered Jim exclaimed as he ran into the room.  
"What? Money?" he wondered boredly.  
"A journal and a video diary!"  
"And who would they happen to belong to?"  
"We'll find out in a minute," he said matter-of-factly.  
They both sat down at a table, and Jim opened the journal.  
"June 15-  
YES! I, the famous thief, Aya Rei, have stolen the XGP from the Kei Pirates! I'm too excited to write! Screw it! I'm going to video..."  
They both sweatdropped. "That's all they wrote?"  
The blonde picked up the video diary box and pressed a few buttons. A holographic screen popped up over it. It was hard to tell what was going on, but somebody was adjusting the camera, and it obviously a female. Jim looked over at Gene, who was staring, transfixed.  
She backed away from the lens, and they got a more decent look at her. She was bright red hair, pulled back in a long braid, and cobalt blue eyes. She looked about sixteen years old.   
"June fifteenth. I, the famous thief, Aya Rei, has made a name for herself by stealing the XGP from the Kei Pirates. It seems Gilliam will be my only friend for quite awhile," she said as the little, blue, soda-sized thing came into view. "I need a name for this lovely ship. Not to mention a paint job and a register number, or whatever the hell it's called. Gilliam, what name would you like?"  
"I don't know."  
"I forgot, you aren't exactly Mr. Personality. Well, I like the name Shinigami. I know there's a god of death, because I've seen a ton of dead people!"  
Gilliam sweatdropped.  
"Well, we're off! We can't let those Kei bastards get us, now can we?" Aya laughed evilly as she hopped into the pilot's seat.  
"Wait! What about the navigation system, Aya?" Gilliam cried.  
"Don't worry about that. It's already taken care of," she explained, gesturing to a little red light connected to the cylinder where the navigator would be.


	2. Speed of light?

**What the dust will hide  
**Chapter Two  
Speed of light?  
*******  


Disclaimer: I own nothing other than Aya-chan. Don't sue, I have little money. My sister said she read a really bad fanfic. She described it. It was this one. I then proceeded in my attempt to strangle her with her own braid. I'm quite depressed.   


*******  


Aya laughed almost insanely as she sped past the ships of the local Space Forces branch.  
"Slow down!" Gilliam cried as he flew backwards on his little track.  
"Hell no! I'm not gonna get caught by those losers back there! The incompetent fools!" she cackled, making her chest move, dragging Gene's vision along with it. "Blue Heaven, here I come!"  
_She reminds me of someone. I wonder who,_ Jim thought sarcastically.  
After fast-forwarding though a few hours of tape, they came to an interesting part. They were almost to Blue Heaven.   
"What repairs do we need to make, Gilliam?" a certain half-asleep thief asked.  
"There was some damage done to the hull from their firing."  
She nodded as her eyelids drooped.  
The blue, soda-sized maintenance robot sweatdropped. "Wake up or we'll crash into meteors!"  
"I'm awake! I just need a drink..."  
"You shouldn't drink sake and fly at the same time..."  
"Coffee, baka."  
"Which dock should we go to?"  
"Seven. I don't need the back luck of number four."  
"I didn't know you were suspicious."  
"'m not. That's just close to where my family lives."  
Aya pressed a few buttons, and a screen with a man on it popped up.  
"Clear us for docking at seven."  
"That'll be five-"  
She clicked the screen off.   
"So sorry, but I don't have much money. Maybe I can 'charm' my way out of paying," she said thoughtfully, a hint of laughter in her voice.  
Gilliam sweatdropped, a feat very few mechanical beings could perform, seeing that none of them were designed with sweat glands. Aya stretched her arms and fingers out behind her, yawning. The red-haired girl relaxed as her darling Shinigami was drawn into the dock.  
In a few minutes, she stepped out of her ship, wearing an outfit that caused all of the male dock attendants to stare. It consisted of a tight, white, sequined tube top and a black miniskirt, with black high heels on her feet. She inhaled in a way that almost made the staring men's eyes pop out of their sockets.  
"Oh, I don't think I'll be able to pay my docking fees, Whoever could possibly help me?" she asked dulcetly, slowly walking down the steps that led to the floor.  
A small crowd of men flocked over to her.  
"Here's a thousand wong!"  
"Take my five hundred!"  
"Six hundred and eighty! I'll give you another hundred if you'll let me take you to dinner!"  
Similar comments were shouted as she eagerly accepted the money.  
"This should be plenty! Thank you so much, gentlemen!" she said, her teeth aching due to the sweetness in her voice.  
As she stuffed the money into her purse, she dropped the black leather bag on purpose. As she bent down to pick it up, she made it a point to bend more at the waist than at the knees. _No good deed should go unrewarded,_ she thought to herself.  
She stood up, and walked through the cluster of drooling men, into the office of the man in charge of the dock. She knocked gently at the door twice.  
"Come in."  
Aya walked into his office, taking her small, mincing steps.   
"How much will docking fees for a week be?" she breathed, fetchingly.  
The large, balding businessman forced himself not to drool. "A minimal fee of seven hundred wong should suffice."  
Being nowhere nearly as foolish as she acted, the cobalt-eyed beauty knew she was getting the dirty old man's discount. Silently, she handed over the money, and then minced out, closing the door behind her.  


*******  


An extremely drunk Aya stumbled into Shinigami, clutching a half-empty bottle of beer.   
"Aya, when will you take care of the repairs?" Gilliam demanded  
"I'll get ta," hiccup, "it t'morrah'. Dun yah worry yer," hiccup, "perty li'l head o'er it, Gill-shan!" she slurred in between hiccups, grinning.  
Annoyed by her drunk ramblings, the little blue maintenance droid shook what it had of a head. Satisfied with that, she passed out on the floor, and was dragged to her bed by even more maintenance droids.  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
